Adoration
by Insomniac Owl
Summary: This is love. Orochimaru has no doubts about that.


**Adoration**

_By Insomniac Owl_

-

He has fourteen scars. He has thin shoulders that fit perfectly into Orochimaru's palms, and he's thinly built, but strong; this last is something Orochimaru knows well – once, when Orochimaru let his attention slip, the boy elbowed him in the face. He has pale skin. Dark, blank eyes. He has a high pain tolerance and he's stubborn, but he's determined too, and that's part of what caused Orochimaru to fall in love. That determination in someone so young is, to Orochimaru, _very_ attractive.

Sasuke Uchiha is perilously close to perfect, and this is why Orochimaru loves him.

**x**

Their bedrooms are at opposite ends of the hallway, and Orochimaru leaves the door open so he can watch Sasuke while reading. It's one of his favorite pastimes, but he gets to wanting Sasuke so badly that his reading just doesn't matter anymore, and he puts down his book, walking casually down the hallway and into Sasuke's room.

It's a small room, with just a bed and a dresser and a few things in the corner, nothing of consequence. Sasuke spends almost all his time here, except when he's in the kitchen for a change of pace. The circumstances under which Sasuke came to live there are somewhat complicated, and Orochimaru doesn't like to talk about it because, really, it's sort of embarrassing – Sasuke hadn't wanted to come at first, and it took somewhat drastic measures to convince him – but he's glad it happened. Having Sasuke in the same house has put him in the best mood he's been in for a long, long time. He can see Sasuke any time he wants, can watch him sleep, can run his fingers down the boy's chest and listen to his breathing change.

Orochimaru sits, in a chair he left beside the bed for this specific purpose. Putting a hand on Sasuke's arm, he trails his fingers up to Sasuke's lips, when the boy turns toward him.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asks.

Orochimaru smiles.

They've known each other for two years now, but Sasuke only came to live with him two weeks ago. They have sex nearly every day, now that they're so conveniently close to one another, and afterward Sasuke stares at him with this look in his eyes, and Orochimaru knows he's made the right decision.

**x**

Orochimaru doesn't have visitors, except for when the police come to answer his complaints about his neighbors, who like to play loud music late into the night. When the police come over, though, it always happens that they'd been playing games in the bedroom, and there is always tape over Sasuke's mouth, and Orochimaru always answers the door in his bathrobe. When the police leave, Orochimaru returns to the bedroom, carefully removing the tape from Sasuke's mouth.

"They're gone," he whispers. "Now it's just us." He kisses the boy, loving the heat of his body, and it is lips over lips, Orochimaru's fingernails in Sasuke's skin and Sasuke's fingernails in his palms.

Sasuke is always quiet during sex, but this, Orochimaru thinks, is because of his pride. If Orochimaru had it his way Sasuke would scream and moan and cry out, but no amount of cajoling can convince him to let go, and that's just something Orochimaru has to deal with.

"I love you," he says afterward, when he's exhausted and Sasuke's face is flushed red and there are tears in his eyes, though he's trying desperately to hide them. "You know that, don't you?" Orochimaru leans to whisper in Sasuke's ear, noticing that, under his palm, Sasuke's chest is trembling. "I love you, Sasuke-kun."

**x**

One day, when Orochimaru brings his lunch, Sasuke refuses to talk to him. No matter what he says Sasuke just stares at him. He won't touch the food until after Orochimaru leaves, but at least he touches it. A week or so later he won't eat his lunch at all. Orochimaru makes it especially for him – a tomato and turkey sandwich with mozzarella cheese and white onions, Sasuke's favorite – but when he comes into Sasuke's room an hour later to pick up the plate, he finds it untouched.

"What's wrong?" Orochimaru asks, laying a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Please eat, Sasuke-kun, for me? I need you to eat." Sasuke says nothing, and Orochimaru finds himself growing angry. "I take care of you, Sasuke-kun. I feed you, I love you – what else do you want me to do?"

Sasuke stares at him blankly, says nothing. Already it seems to Orochimaru that Sasuke's ribs, and the frail vertebrae in his back, are more noticeable. If Sasuke keeps refusing food, he'll get so thin he won't be perfect anymore, and the thought nearly drives Orochimaru to tears. He hurls the plate and sandwich against the wall across the room, pieces of glass and lettuce scattering over the floor. Most of the sandwich falls in a heap on the carpet, but Orochimaru doesn't care about the mess. He's still staring at Sasuke, who flinched when the plate broke, but is still silent.

"Fine, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said. "Fine. You want to play this game? I'll play." He strode out of the room, leaving the mess where it fell and Sasuke curled up on the bed, motionless.

**x**

The next evening he cleans up the sandwich, and brings Sasuke a new one, sitting by the bed for hours until it becomes clear that Sasuke has come to some kind of decision, and won't eat no matter what Orochimaru does. He won't talk, either, even when Orochimaru kisses him and begs him to speak.

**x**

Sasuke's determination is what he loved about the boy in the first place, and Orochimaru realizes he might not win this one.

He faithfully brings Sasuke his meals, but day after day goes by and still Sasuke refuses to eat or speak or even look at him. Orochimaru doesn't even bother locking Sasuke's door when he goes out anymore, but this seems to have no effect on Sasuke. Tomorrow, he thinks, watching Sasuke from down the hall, tomorrow maybe he'll leave the chains off the bars, see if that has any effect on him either. Orochimaru doesn't know which would be worse – finding Sasuke gone the next day, or finding him still there, curled up on his side, spiting him and breaking his heart.

**end.**


End file.
